How to Uninstall Apps on Mac

Installing and uninstalling apps on a Mac is not the same as it’s on Windows. The process has been designed to be more intuitive on Mac, but if you’re a lifelong Windows user, deleting apps on a Mac can be a tad confusing.

There are a few ways to remove apps from a Mac, ranging from the simple drag-and-drop method, to using third-party applications to uninstall programs and support files for a more thorough uninstall. Trying to get rid of apps on your Mac? Here are all the ways to delete apps on a Mac.

Delete apps from the Finder

The most straightforward way to delete an app is using the Finder app on macOS. You can find your App Store and third-party apps listed in the Applications folder, so it’s a matter of moving an app to trash from there. Follow these steps:

• Make sure you’ve closed and exited the app.
• Open the Finder, by clicking your desktop or by clicking the Finder app icon in the Dock.
• Head over to the Applications folder by clicking Applications on the left sidebar.
• On the right side, click to select the app that you want to delete.
• Delete the app by either clicking, holding and dragging it to the Trash, by right-clicking (a.k.a. secondary clicking) the app, and selecting Move to Trash from the menu bar.

Once you’ve selected the app, you can also use the menu bar File menu to delete it, by clicking File > Move to Trash, or by using the keyboard shortcut — simply press Command-Delete on your keyboard.

Depending on your settings, you may be asked to authenticate the action with the username and password for an administrator account on your Mac, or with Touch ID.

Delete apps from the Launchpad

The Launchpad shows you all available apps on your Mac, installed from the Mac App Store or third-party sources. It also lets you remove some of these apps, and the process is similar to how you uninstall apps on an iPhone or iPad. Here are the steps to follow:

• Open Launchpad by clicking the icon on the dock, or with the four-finger pinch-in gesture.
• Hover the mouse cursor over any of the app icons, and click and hold it until the icons start jiggling.
• Press the X button on top of the icon of the app you want to delete.
• Click Delete.
• Click anywhere in the empty space in the folder to stop the app icons from jiggling.

Alternatively, you can also hold and drag an app’s icon to the Trash icon in the dock, and click Delete to uninstall it. Note that macOS won’t let you delete some basic apps that are needed for your Mac to function normally.

Uninstall apps with their own uninstaller

Some apps on macOS will come with their own uninstaller built in, which lets you remove the app and clean up the related files. Apps like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Creative Cloud and other Adobe apps have their own installers that you should run if you’re trying to uninstall them.

For Adobe apps, you can find the uninstallers in Finder, by navigating to /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers. You’ll have to run it and follow the on-screen instructions. For other apps the path for the uninstaller will be different, but make sure you check whether a particular app has its own uninstaller before you dig into Finder to look for it.

Cleaning up leftover files with a third-party app uninstaller

If you have an app that cannot be uninstalled with any of the above methods, or if you’re trying to do a deep clean and delete any leftover files to free up some disk space, you might want to use third-party apps to do it. If you want a simple and free app, AppCleaner is a good option. Download and install AppCleaner, and run it. Once it’s open, follow these steps.

• Open the Applications folder in Finder by clicking Applications on the left sidebar.
• Drag and drop your app icon into the AppCleaner window.
• Click Allow when the app requests permission to read app data.
• AppCleaner will list every file it can find in the app’s folder. Click Remove to clean it up.

You can also opt for a more sophisticated app like CleanMyMac, which not only lets Mac users uninstall apps but will also free up a lot of storage on your Mac by finding unneeded or redundant files. It’s paid, but you get free trial for seven days.

Any one of these apps is a great method to uninstall software on your Mac the right way. Granted, some go more in depth than others, but the job is accomplished either way. If you’re still not happy with the results, you might want to try restarting your mac, or if that doesn’t fix it, factory reset your Mac. If you’re due for an upgrade, you can buy new of the options from our top recommendations of the best MacBooks right now.